On Drink

by Kingsley Amis, Nicolas Bentley (Illustrator)

British novelist Kingsley Amis gives his charming advice on all things alcoholic.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Humor

109 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Best known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include Lucky Jim (1954) and The Old Devils (1986).

This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.

William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.

Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner

Reviews

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amüsantes, informatives und leicht snobistisches Büchlein über Drinks. So beklagt Amis das Aussterben der Cocktail-Kultur, die mit der „Abschaffung der Dienstboten in Haushalten der Mittelschicht“ in Verbindung stehe. Die Zubereitung sei einfach zu aufwändig und der Gastgeber wolle nicht ständig Plaudereien unterbrechen um neue Cocktails zuzubereiten. Entsprechend geht es hier um die Zubereitung oft eher kostspieliger Drinks und ich staunte schon, dass Amis für den „Generic Hot Punch“ tatsächlich empfiehlt billigen Rotwein oder Portwein zu verwenden (ich fragte mich, ob Amis unter billigem Rotwein wirklich dasselbe versteht wie ich) und dann empfiehlt er als weitere Zutat auch noch billigen Weinbrand. Letzteren aber mit dem Zusatz „der aber trotzdem aus Frankreich stammt“.
Es gibt aber auch wirklich praktische Vorschläge, zum Beispiel wenn die Vorteile von Old-Fashioned-Gläsern (=gedrungener Tumbler) gepriesen werden: „Es geht nicht allein darum, daß ein solches Glas hübsch aussieht – und das tut es, sogar sehr - , man kann darin eine größere Menge Eiswürfel unterbringen, ohne sie über den Rand hinaus in die Höhe stapeln zu müssen, wo sie dann an der Nase des Trinkers festfrieren.“ Eine Anleitung zum Herstellen von Zuckersirup beginnt mit den Worten: „Genehmigen Sie sich einen anständigen Drink und stellen Sie einen zweiten bereit, um die Zubereitung kurzweilig zu gestalten.“

Da sich Kingsley selbst nicht zu den passionierten Weintrinkern zählt, rechnet er in den Wein-Kapiteln mit dem Geschwätz und Getue der Kenner ab, lässt sich aber dann auch hier zu ein paar Empfehlungen herab. Schließlich gibt es auch noch Tipps für den Alkoholgenuss im Ausland: „[...] probieren Sie doch das Bier. Es wird zwar zu kalt serviert und schmeckt auch nicht besonders, aber geschadet hat es noch keinem.“ Das kann auch nur ein Engländer sagen!

Das kleine Werk amüsiert (auch auf Kosten des Autors), enthält neben Anekdoten hilfreiche Hinweise und Empfehlungen – und macht durstig. Gut, dass sich Amis am Ende auch noch dem unvermeidlichen Kater widmet, inklusive Tipps für die Katerlektüre.

Bleibt nur eine Frage offen: Woran ist Amis eigentlich gestorben? Ich hätte auf etwas mit der Leber getippt. Aber wie wikipedia verrät: „Amis starb 1995 an den Folgen einer Wirbelsäulenverletzung, die er sich einen Monat zuvor bei einem Sturz zugezogen hatte.“ Ein Schelm wer Böses dabei denkt.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My much-needed sorbet course to escape the Russian black dog brought me to Kinsley Amis On Drink (Jonathan Cape) which was originally published in 1972, with some amusing caricature sketches by Nicolas Bentley. I’m not sure what to say other than it’s pretty much exactly what you might imagine it to be. Cocktail recipes, hangover cures, top tips and old wives tales challenged. If you like Kingsley Amis and/or his writing and his books, you will probably love this book. If you do not, and there are some understandable reasons why you may take against him, then you will probably not chuckle and smile your way through this. It did me just fine and I am now back in the game.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Drink by Kingsley Amis, author of a magnificent magnum opera, including The Folks That Live on The Hill http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/02/t...

10 out of 10





It is testament to the greatness of The King – I have just learned that friends called him King or Kingers , and readers, fans might as well refer to him as ‘The King’- that one could enjoy one of his masterpieces, even when the subject is of little, or no interest to him, her or they – by the way, I wonder what he would make of the phenomenal changes in the moeurs of the present, notions we find in the Co-Winner of The 2019 Booker Prize Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/g... by Bernardine Evaristo



After all, The King complained about the transformation of the pubs, from places where men (mostly) could chat and drink, to locals with slot machines (or something like that) with children in attendance –he invited the audience to send letters in response to the articles he published and in response, there was a winner of the three liters bottle of Scotch of Whiskey (in this opus we see that the e makes the difference between the Irish and Scottish products, among other valuable information that is imparted here), who had been a landlord and he explains that with women working, they want to bring children to the pub, and the other changes have been brought about by financial pressures.

If not exactly a teetotaler, I abstain from drink, because with great pauses, of some years in between, when there is a beano, then the chances are that I will pass out – there is one celebration today, happy birthday Hunter, and I do not know if I will be in attendance, fearing that I will be drunk, seem to have a cold, there are some ruffians there that I do not particularly long to see again, it is at the other end of this large city and I do not enjoy drinking, the end result is often pleasant, though my spouse keeps banging on about the last time, when I called her to drive and bring me back home from the street near that party, and once in the mansion, I just passed out on the mattress of the dog…well, one of the five borzois which she had planted on me at the time…no wonder I tried to find refuge in absinth…



There are many recipes that are perhaps the main point of the book, which I will never try, how could I, seeing that I stay away from the simplest of tipples, make the effort to squeeze oranges, lemons, put glasses in the fridge – indeed, there is also a list with the necessary, and a serious drink man has to have his own fridge, perhaps with a lock on it, otherwise the spouse will start filling it with rubbish (aka food) and this brings us to the reason why reading The King is so exhilarating, exalting, it is because he has a fantastic sense of humor, directness, honesty, and a mind like no other…well, Marcel Proust would be an equal http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/u...

Somerset Maugham is another absolute favorite of this reader http://realini.blogspot.com/2012/12/r... notwithstanding the fact that Kingsley Amis may have been less enthusiastic about the novelist, he mentions an interior in jest, saying it looked like one from a novel by Somerset Maugham, maybe as an irony, I am not sure



It could have been in I Like It Here http://realini.blogspot.com/2012/12/r... where the protagonist moves to Lisbon, at a time when poets and literati could claim they have no means and then they were allowed to eat free (I can’t remember about drink) and Amis says this is a measure that could not possibly be envisaged in Great Britain, something to do with bankrupting the state I guess

The author makes sure that he does give the advice in the most responsible and mirthful way – stating that he does not want to be blamed for the use of the recommended drink, especially in court – and repeats that one cocktail or another must be taken with caution, admitting to limitations in this vast subject



He has not tasted the drink made from fermented mare’s or camel’s milk in the Mongolian steppes (incidentally, it must have been in The Russian Girl http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/11/t... the sublime jest, when something smelled peculiar, we hear it must be Eau d’Ulan Bator) and the drink man has his preferences, not so much a fan of wine, albeit he lists the advantages, the fact that people expect to have it (or did some decades ago) women will ask for a glass of white wine – a small one, as if this would diminish the trouble to get to the fridge, uncork the bottle, pour it and come back, just as other guests are arriving…evidently, this and other episodes would be under heavy fire in our age, alas, I am not sure how much people read any more, and Kingsley Amis in particular

Much, if not all of the advice is useful for hosts, such as the suggestion or imperious demand that we do not overspend when we intend to make cocktails, because the refinement of the wine is lost in a concoction, we must not be stingy – in the introduction, we hear that at one party, Kingers dropped his glass and broke it, saying ‘oh, so good it was empty’, making a point, for there are hosts who do not provide enough booze, and then this is the book to consult, to see how expenses can be limited, with maximum success.



The Magister Ludi dismisses wines from the Balkans, often, when an example of something really nasty, he mentions Bulgarian, wines from Cyprus (he does not even deign to mention the products from our realm, albeit they have invested a lot and I would be curious to know what he thinks now…I have met at the sauna Downtown a man from…Chile, one of the most developed countries in the world, a leader in Latin America clearly, who was here to work as a wine expert, in one of a dozen new vineyards, wine producing enterprises, with serious ambitions, they would not bring and pay somebody to travel all across the globe, just to have fun) and there are plenty of examples of cocktails, some the creation of the divine author, that will be of great use, if only the reader is also a drink man, and even more if he has a habit of entertaining, having people over to imbibe, talk and enjoy the benefits of alcohol…beer is also present and praised, I think Carlsberg is the favorite of our guide, there are articles on what drink is suitable for what food, and English menus are better suited with beer http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amis says that one of the best descriptions of what a hangover is like is given in Kafka's "Metamorphosis": "The central image [the hero waking up one morning and finding that he has turned into a man-sized cockroach] could hardly be better chosen, and there is a telling touch in the nasty way everybody goes on at the chap". The rest of the book is hilarious, too, including Amis's drink recipes, which sometimes call for something like "an enormous slug of bourbon".

I would counsel against following the directions that involve an asbestos pot holder, though.

[Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beure per suportar viure, lluny de ser un acte vulgar i deshonrós, pot arribar a convertir-se en tot una ciència, gairebé una religió.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to read a book about drinking, well, this is a fine one. Some very funny moments, some filler, few fireworks, and an occasional bomb. I believe the good man Amis when he says something like: the beauty of collected work is getting paid twice for writing something once. Still, to write so nice with such a drinking regiment is inspiring indeed.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving up on this one. Not that it lacks the British witticisms about alcohol that I was expecting, but it also has pages and pages of drink recipies and entertaining advice that have to be sifted through to reach the jokes. It's been sitting untouched for weeks now. I'd rather read Amis's fiction.

[Schottsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the metaphysical hangover...great concept

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much a long read, but rather a collection of old drink recipes dotted with quick-witted anecdotes.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous at times but not the funniest I've read on the subject.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite part was when he suggested reading Paradise Lost as a hangover cure.

[John Hubbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny at times but with dry and useless parts of one is not living in 1970s Britain.

[Jacob Bornheimer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cute book.